It’s been 3 weeks (I know I’ve been slacking). However, it’s time to write out another summary of information that any Rails developer might want to know about. Detailed audio versions of these notes can be found on the Rails Envy Podcast #51, #52, and #53.

You may already be aware that Rails 2.2 RC1 was released last Friday. For a glimpse at the new features you can read through the Release Notes. However, if you’re looking for something more comprehensive check out the Envycast on Ruby on Rails 2.2^ or the What’s New PDF by Carlos Brando.

Rails 2.0.5 and Rails 2.1.2 were also pushed in the last few weeks, mostly just plugging up a few small security concerns. If you’re on 2.x, you should probably take the time to upgrade.

If you’re taking advantage of the localization features of Rails 2.2, there are two libraries you should probably be aware of. First, Diego Carrion recently created a fork of restful_authentication where he added full support for i18n. Secondly, Karel Minarik recently released a plugin for doing localized_country_select so you can display countries the appropriate language.

If you need your Rails application to receive emails, one way to do it is to use gmail IMAP. John Nunemaker wrote up a nice walkthrough showing all the scripts need to parse email out of gmail.

Hosting, Performance, and Tuning

With Rails 2.2 thread safety, you might assume that brings a performance boost for everyone. However, this is not always the case and Pratik Naik explains why.

Ilya Grigorik wrote a blog post about Scaling Rails with MYSQL Plus where he uses the Non-Blocking MySQL driver from Neverblock to get some increased performance out of ActiveRecord which is quite impressive.

If you need to implement full text search in your Rails application, and you are already thinking Sphinx, you may want to check out the Thinking Sphinx PDF by Pat Allan over on Peepcode.

Library News

If you’re a fan of resource_controller (skinny REST controllers) and Shoulda you shoulda definitely check out the starter app by James Golick called Blank.

The next time you need to build a “Software As A Service” website (like basecamp), check out Service Merchant. This gem sits on top of Active Merchant and gives you everything you need to do Subscription Billing.

Do you ever forget your Rails routes? There’s always the “rake routes” command, but that’s not very user friendly. You might want to check out Vasco. Vasco is a Route explorer for Rails which provides a nice web interface to browse through and test all your Rails routes.

If you ever need to build a Rails application which is accessible on multiple domains or multiple paths (like foo.com or bar.com or a.com/foo) then take a look at the Rails Proxy Plugin by Sean Huber. This plugin allows you to dynamically respond to proxied requests by detecting the incoming path and properly setting the session domain, default host, and relative url root.

If you need an easy way to test your plugin which extends ActiveRecord, check out acts_as_fu, which aside from it’s unfortunate name, is pretty slick.

If you came over from PHP, you’re probably familiar with phpMyAdmin. One of the Rails Rumble teams made a Ruby version of phpMyAdmin that’s definitely worth checking out if you’re missing a quick web interface to your db.

Event News

The Rails Rumble is over and you only have 3 more days to vote (voting closes on Midnight November 1st). Cast your vote! It’s good practice for next Tuesday (least in the US).

If you’re over in London, Ruby Manor is taking place November 22nd. Looks like it’s going to be a fun unconference type of event.

Lastly, Rubyconf is next week here in Orlando, Florida where it’s been kinda chilly lately. Definitely pack something warm just in case, and see you next week!

Image Credit: Blue Sky on Rails by ecstaticist, Analog Solutions 606 Mod by Formication, RailsConf Europe 2006 by Paul Watson, Rainbow by One Good Bumblebee
^ In the interest of full disclosure, I do produce Envycasts, and profit from the sale of the screencasts.